Senate committee begins new hearings on Toyota recall

WASHINGTON (AP) - Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood saidTuesday his agency may recommend that all new vehicles sold in theU.S. be equipped with brakes that can override the gas pedal. Theidea seemed to be gaining support among lawmakers as Toyotaofficials returned for a third hearing on lethal safety defects. "We will not rest until these cars are safe," LaHood told theSenate Commerce Committee. He said the "Toyota business model is broken" but predictedimprovements. "I think you'll see some changes in the way they dobusiness," LaHood told the panel. His testimony came as federal safety officials increased to 52the number of reported deaths linked to sudden acceleration inToyota vehicles, through the end of last month. Previously, 34deaths were blamed on the problem. Toyota Motor Corp. and federal regulators both faced questionsfrom Congress over the giant Japanese car company's troubled safetyrecord. "We know something has gone terribly wrong," said SenateCommerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. "The systemmeant to safeguard against faulty vehicles has failed, and it needsto be fixed and it needs to be fixed right away." Multiple recalls have damaged Toyota's reputation and set thestage for large numbers of death and injury lawsuits amid acriminal investigation by federal prosecutors in New York, a probeby the Securities and Exchange Commission and more scrutiny fromthe Transportation Department. Since September, Toyota has recalledabout 6 million vehicles in the U.S. One element of new legislation could be a requirement that allnewly manufactured cars sold in the United States have a breakoverride system. Toyota has said it will put such an override system into allfuture vehicles and will retrofit many recalled models. More than 8million Toyota cars have been recalled because of suddenacceleration or breaking defects. The backup safety system under discussion overrides theaccelerator if the gas and brake pedals are pressed at the sametime. "It means the brake always overrides the accelerator,"Rockfeller said. "Why don't we require every manufacturer to dothis?" LaHood responded: "We are looking at the possibility ofrecommending the brake override system in all newly manufacturedautomobiles." The new number of 52 deaths was surfaced by the National HighwayTraffic Safety Administration, part of the Department ofTransportation. Federal officials haven't formally confirmed thelinks between deaths and Toyota defects but have received a spikein complaints since Toyota began a series of big recalls inOctober. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, noted that not just Toyota carshave defects, but that other automakers also have been subject tomillions of recalls. "It is not a Toyota problem, it is anindustry problem," he said. Inouye noted that over much of the past decade, recalls ofvehicles made by Ford, General Motors and Chrysler dwarfed Toyotarecalls. "If it is an industry problem, we should hear from theindustry, instead of just Toyota," Inouye said. Rockefeller, whose state is the site of a Toyota plant, said,"It is clear that somewhere along the way public safety took aback seat and corporate profits drove the company's decisions." Rockefeller has known Toyota's founding family since the 1960sand helped land a Toyota engine plant in Buffalo, W.Va., during the1990s. Rockefeller last month asked the Transportation Department'sInspector General to conduct an audit of the government's responseto the recalls and has sought information from Toyota, thegovernment and auto insurers. The committee - formally the Senate Committee on Commerce,Science and Transportation - is probing whether Toyota and federalsafety regulators acted swiftly enough. Three Toyota officials were due to testify later Tuesday. Toyota President Akio Toyoda pledged last week before a Housepanel to be more responsive to driver complaints and safetywarnings from the government. Toyoda made a similar promise toimprove quality control while apologizing Monday to Chinese Toyotaowners. But the company still faces lingering doubts over the cause ofthe problems, which it has blamed on gas pedals that can getobstructed by floor mats or stick due to design flaws. Safetyexperts have said the electronic systems of Toyota vehicles alsocould be to blame. Toyota insists there is no evidence of anelectrical cause. Rockefeller said that federal investigators were reluctant toinvestigate whether vehicle electronics were to blame for problemswith cars speeding out of control because it is harder to detectelectronic problems. NHTSA "would rather focus on floor mats than microchips becausethey understand floor mats," Rockefeller said. LaHood responded that his agency will do a "complete review"of the electronics issue. Adding to Toyota's woes, the automaker said Tuesday it isrepairing more than 1.6 million vehicles around the world,including the U.S. and Japan, for potentially leaky oil hoses. NHTSA is seeking records on Toyota's recalls and investigatingwhether electronics were behind the vehicle defects. NHTSA alsocontinues to look into steering complaints from drivers of thepopular Corolla model. Joining LaHood at the witness table was NHTSA AdministratorDavid Strickland, a former Senate Commerce Committee aide. TheSenate committee also heard from Clarence Ditlow, president of theCenter for Auto Safety, which has investigated the Toyotacomplaints. Toyota sent three company executives: Yoshi Inaba, Toyota'sNorth American president; Shinichi Sasaki, a Toyota executive vicepresident who oversees quality control; and Takeshi Uchiyamada, aToyota executive vice president who is considered the father of thePrius hybrid.

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